


The New Sitter

by DominoSatcher



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Divorce, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gay Male Character, High School, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Male Slash, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DominoSatcher/pseuds/DominoSatcher
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's mother has always been overly protective of her son, but when she accidentally hires Harry's crush from high school to be his new baby sitter, Harry realizes his one-sided crush from high school may not be as hopeless and one-sided as he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **  
> Prompted AU Oneshot (Possibly a Series?):  
> **
> 
> _Could you do one where Harry (16) has a very overprotective mother who hires a babysitter (Louis [19]). Harry is super embarrassed because he has a crush on Louis and doesn’t know how Louis feels about him! Thanks love:)_
> 
> **Author’s Notes:**
> 
> I actually really had fun with this prompt and I don't usually enjoy writing AU stuff as much. I could almost make a series out of this one, though. I have ideas. If enough people would read it, I could totally make this a series piece, I guess.
> 
> Also, you can follow me on Tumblr if you want, my url is http://holycrapitslarry.tumblr.com/  
> 

  


"Harry," his mother's voice rang out cautiously from the living room, "Come down here sweetheart!"

Harry quickly paused the video game he was playing and bounded down the stairs at his mother's request. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, he noticed his mother was dressed up and putting on a long, but stylish trench coat. Her high heels were indicative of a night out, which Harry knew meant only one thing. 

"You can't be serious!" His posture immediately changed, he slumped back down on the stairs, and groaned loudly. 

"Well, dear," she said through a sigh, "I'm quite serious." Ever since his mother had gotten divorced, she had been going out on multiple dates with various men from the dating service she joined. However, this also meant that Harry was often stuck with a very obnoxious, very rambunctious babysitter. She was a few grades higher in school than Harry was, which always made him uneasy that everyone in his class was going to find out his mother still hired him a sitter despite being sixteen years old. He always put up a fight, but she always won in the end with her usual act: "You know that I'm just going to be worried sick about you if you’re here all alone. How am I supposed to have a good time if I can't think about anything other than my little Hazza, hm?" 

The guilt trip worked on Harry every single time, but didn't make him any more reluctant about the idea. "I just really don't like that girl Nora. She's not as nice as you think she is, you know. She acts all fake and nice when you're around because you're paying her. She's not a pleasant person." 

"Well, then you'll be relieved to know that she’s not the sitter tonight," Harry's mother stated plainly, examining her outfit in the mirror. She turned to her son and saw that she’d piqued his curiosity, so she brushed her coat underneath her legs, sat next to her son on the stairwell, and ran her fingers through his hair. "As soon as you told me all of that nonsense about her being mean, I knew she couldn't be allowed by my precious little Haz anymore." 

"Well, who is it, then?" Despite the idea of having a sitter at sixteen being atrocious, the idea of a change of pace could maybe make it suck a little less. "Besides, I've already told you, I'm a sophomore in high school. I'm sixteen! I don't need a sitter..."

"Well, he wasn't my first choice, but he was the only person available on such short notice." She put her arm around her son’s shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug. "I just want to make sure you're okay, so please try not to give Louis a hard time, but you let me know if anything happens at all and I'll come rushing home immediately!" 

"You don't have to do that..." Harry always felt bad about how overly protective his mother was, so he headed through a lot of Nora’s intolerable personality so she could enjoy herself when she went out and -- wait did she say he? And Louis? "Uh, mom, Louis who?" 

"Oh, you know, that nice boy from the next block over. The one that sings at the coffee shop on the weekends! What’s their last name again..." She paused for a moment trying to remember their last name, but as soon as she gave him that description, Harry’s heart fell deep into the pit of his stomach. He knew exactly who she meant by that description. 

"Tomlinson..."

"That's it!" She rubbed his shoulder in a ’You-got-it!’ sort of way that was almost condescending (as any protective, super-supportive mother tone can get). "I should have remembered that, his mom is part of my book club after all!" 

How embarrassing. Harry had just finished his freshman year of high school and Louis has just graduated, but Harry knew who Louis was because he'd always seen him singing at the coffee shop just down the block from where he lived. He’d always go on the nights when Louis sang. Sometimes, even if he'd heard that Louis might or might not sing, he’d go just in case. He’d developed a serious case of a Louis infection which made this idea almost as bad if not worse than Nora. Before Harry got a chance to object, there was a knock on the door and his mother quickly bounced over to the front door to open it. 

Standing in the doorway was the recent graduate dressed casually in a pair of sweatpants and a grey hoodie. He had a grey beanie on his head, which pressed down his hair and the legs of his black-rimmed glasses tucked gently under the edge of the beanie. He wasn't as dressed up as he usually was when Harry watched him sing, which consisted of his hair being much more done up, contacts, and usually a strapping outfit to match his almost childlike good looks. "Hey, Mrs. S," he said, unleashing a dangerous attractive smile. 

Harry’s face immediately began to feel hot as it turned a light, rosy red color. He was about to he stuck in his home with his unrequited high school crush for several hours until his mother was done with her date. Harry was quite certain that this was what it must feel like to die of embarrassment: a quiet, painful death for a reason that no one knows but you. 

"Louis! So good to see you!" Harry’s mother smiled away and ushered the older boy inside, "Thank you for agreeing to sit on such short notice, but you didn't have to be here for another thirty minutes! It's only seven-thirty, dear!" She adjusted the back of her trench coat that she has crumpled sitting on the stairs by her son. 

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I didn't even realize I was early. I thought I was late, honestly," he said through that viciously handsome smile. He then turned his gaze to Harry and smiled warmly at him, which only caused Harry’s cheeks to flush even redder than they already were. 

"Well, either way this is good, because now it just means I can be on time. If I'm being honest, I wanted you to show up a little late, so I could be a little late myself!" His mother laughed, "That means I can go ahead and leave now, though! I don't have to be fashionably late every time, I suppose." 

Harry glanced up at his mother, panic written subtly on his face. She was leaving? Already? He didn't even get a chance to argue this new sitter idea and now he wasn't going to get a chance! 

"I left some money on the counter," she said, indicating the direction of the kitchen, "you two can get a pizza or something, rent a movie, it's up to you!" She smiled and placed her hand on Louis’ shoulder. "Please be sure to take care of my little Hazza!"

"Mom!" He gave her a stunned look. She even used her nickname for him in front of Louis! This situation was spiraling downward for him very quickly. He placed his face in his hands and groaned softly. 

"Harry, dear, I should be back around 11. Just because it's the summer holiday now doesn't mean you need to stay up all night, honey." She walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead, which served only to further his embarrassment and caused his face to flush an even darker crimson red. She then quickly grabbed her purse, pressed a hand onto Louis’ shoulder, and exited through the front door. 

"So... Hazza..." Louis chuckled a bit, "Do you want to go to the video store, then? We can grab a pizza on the way back." Louis smiled at the younger boy, who was still holding his hands in his face to hide his blush. 

Harry stood up and went into the kitchen to grab the money and his shoes and coat from near the back door. He walked towards the front door and opened it. "Don't call me that," he said, as he walked out the door. 

"Whaaaaat, why not? It's cute." Louis said, as he followed the boy out.

**\-----**

They ended up settling on a romantic comedy that Louis insisted was one his favorites (claiming Harry would love it) and had grabbed a meat lover's pizza from Pizza Hut on the way back.

The two hadn’t spoken much since the exchange at the front door, so Louis tried to initiate some conversation on the car ride back. "So, your mother seems really nice." 

"She’s embarrassing," Harry replied, staring out the window of the car. He found himself wanting to look at Louis, but also too afraid that his crush would be written all over his face and couldn't physically make himself turn his head.

"I can see how you’d think so," the older boy replied with a laugh, "You’re definitely old enough to not need a sitter." 

Harry quickly added, "I am and I had a rule with the last girl that my mom forced into the house -- don't bring this up to people at school and I won't bother you." Harry wanted to make sure to lay out that same groundwork with Louis, not knowing if Louis would mention this night to any of his friends that were still going to school with Harry. 

"Hey, don't worry, Haz. I won't tell," Louis said.

Harry caught this agreement and realized that Louis knew who he was at school. He had to if he agreed not to tell anyone himself. After all, he'd just mentioned the agreement with the last girl, then received the confirmation from Louis about also not telling. His face turned red at the thought. Did that mean he maybe knew about Harry’s crush, too?

"... but the last part of that rule sounds weird," Louis continued, "Did you and the last sitter have any issues?" Louis turned slowly onto the road where Harry’s house was. 

"She and I didn't get along," Harry said, disdain clear in his voice. "Plus, I told you not to call me that."

"Why didn't you two get along?" Louis ignored the part about not being able to call him Haz/Hazza. 

"She just didn't really like me much, I guess. It's fine, though, I didn't like her either. She was just a mean person. I hated every night that she was going to come over." 

"Oh, so she sat for you more than once? I imagine the way your mom was saying things that the instant you mentioned anything with her she’d have gotten the boot." Louis had definitely picked up on the mother bear type of attitude his mother had about her son.

"Yeah, but finding her was a big enough hassle for my mom, so I didn't want to force her to not be able to go out, either, so I just dealt with it as long as I could." Harry sighed. 

"That's really mature, actually." Louis pulled into Harry’s driveway and took a glance at Harry as he was climbing out of the passenger seat. He knew that Harry's parents had gotten divorced not that long ago, so he chalked that one to having to grow up quicker than other kids.

Upon getting back inside, Louis took the pizza and put the box on the coffee table I the living room, opening it up and rubbing his hands together. "I'm pretty excited about this! You wanna put the movie in?"

Harry nodded and put on the movie. The opening ads began to roll as he and Louis each plopped on the couch. Harry sat on the far end of the couch, but Louis plopped down right in the middle, which left the two closer than Harry wanted to be in that moment. He still couldn't believe this whole night was happening. It was like he was on a date with his crush just without knowing ahead of time, without having much of a way, and without them having any sort of social relationship beforehand. His face turned red at the thought of the word ’date.’ Harry sighed and kicked kicked himself mentally. ’Things I can't,’ he thought. 

"So was your last sitter from school, too?" Louis said, tearing into his piece of pizza while leaning forward to use the top half of the box as a plate.

"Nora Pratley," Harry said with a tone as sharp as a knife. 

"No way," Louis said over a mouthful of pizza, "Nora the Whora. That's a trip." Louis laughed at the thought. 

"People called her that?!" The thought of someone else hating her as much as Harry did broke his mental reservations for a moment and he just stared at Louis, his jaw half dropped in amusement. 

"Oh yeah! Nearly everyone in our grade called her that because of her shit reputation." This yanked a hard laugh out of Harry, which made Louis smile. He’d seen that the younger boy was tense all night, so it was nice to see him loosen up some. 

Harry laughed so hard, he ended up rolling onto his side, which made the top of his head bump into Louis’ thigh. This touch immediately reminded Harry of his situation and caused him to quickly stop laughing and straighten up back onto his side of the couch. 

Louis looked at the other boy, whose eyes were now fixed sharply ahead on the television, and sighed softly. What was it going to take to make Harry relax? 

As the movie started, the opening credits began playing a song that was familiar to Louis, so he began to sing along with the lyrics to the opening instrumental. 

Harry turned and looked at Louis and felt his shoulders drop a bit, relaxing. The opening song for the movie was one of the songs Louis sang at the coffee shop regularly, so he’d gotten the words and notes of the song really well. Harry found himself captivated, just like at the coffee shop, by the boy’s voice. It was so smooth and almost angelic. Harry felt his heart beat a little faster as the song came to a close and the music faded into softer chatter between characters. 

"That was good..." Harry managed to choke out, unable to take his eyes of Louis’ face. The older boy turned to him and smiled warmly again. That smile! 

"Isn't that one of your favorites?" Louis looked at the younger boy and waited. He saw the implications of the question register and saw Harry’s face turn the same dark crimson as before they left the house. 

’He knew,’ Harry thought. He felt like he was going to pass out. Not only did his crush know who he was in school, he also had apparently spotted him at the coffee shop during all of his performances. To top it off, he knew which song he sang was Harry’s favorite?! ’I will literally die before tonight is over. He doesn't know it, but he's going to kill me.’ 

Louis could see the embarrassment on the younger boy's face, so he quickly moved in to try to save him the heart attack, "Y-you know, I think it's really cool how supportive you’ve been. You're the only person that I know genuinely likes my singing. I've recorded it before and I even hate listening to it on tape myself." 

"What?!" Harry’s brain spoke for him before he could stop himself. He quickly shut his mouth, but had to finish the thought now that it was out there, "I-I think... You're really good. I’m just surprised, I guess..."

"Why are you surprised? That I noticed you’re always there?" Louis looked at the other boy who was looking down towards the floor, his face red as fire. 

Harry nodded. 

"Well, you got my attention, Haz." Louis reached over and ran his fingers through Harry's curls, "Plus, with hair like that, you're pretty noticeable in a small crowd." 

Harry’s heart was thumping so hard he was certain it was going to explode. He waited a moment, enjoying the physical contact before pulling away. "I told you not to call me that..." 

"And I told you that I think it's cute." Louis pulled his hand away and laughed softly at the boy’a refusal to be called by that nickname. Louis found it kind of cute how embarrassed the younger boy was about everything, but how even through his embarrassment and physical tension, he still stood his ground. 

Harry kept fidgeting with his hands in an attempt to slow down his heart. He could feel his stomach flutter as if a thousand butterflies had made it their home. Not only was he stuck in his own home with his crush from high school, there was unnecessary touching and cute nicknaming happening all at once and it was pushing Harry’s brain into a severe sensory overload. 

"Why are you still embarrassed, anyways," Louis interrupted Harry’s thoughts, "You can totally relax around me, you know. I'm not going to bite or anything."

"N-no, I know, it's just..." Harry spoke before his brain could process what he was saying, again and he kicked himself. 

"Just what?" 

"Just..." Harry didn't know what he could say to fill the void beyond that word. He tried to think of something but the words had vanished. 

"Hard to talk to a crush?" 

Harry turned and looked at Louis. He believed he imagined hearing those words, but the look on Louis’ face disagreed. Not only were those words spoken, but Louis had turned to look at him with a look on his face that just screamed the words, ’I know.’ 

"W-what... No, I just -- I, uh..." Harry fumbled over his words in an attempt to hide his sheer horror over how this situation was playing out. 

"My ma won’t even come to hear me sing every night," Louis continued, trying to mend the poor way he was handling the situation, "It’s not hard to read between the lines. Plus, I saw you in the hallway between every class and even though you never said anything, I could tell you wanted to." 

"You saw me?! Every time?!" Harry’s horrors kept compounding themselves by the minute. He thought he had managed to be pretty casual every time he passed Louis in the hall, but apparently everything he did was just blatantly obvious. He had managed to be so nonchalant, though!

"Hazza, calm down," Louis said, placing a hand on Harry’s shoulder, "Seriously, don’t be so stressed out. The only way I was able to notice if you were looking or not was because I was looking, too, ya know." Louis gulped as he put that bit of information out there. He’d always found the younger boy to be attractive, but hasn't ever wanted to call the boy out and embarrass him too much to have a chance to get to know him. That's why he liked the cute nickname so much, why he wanted to show Harry his favorite movie. In Louis’ mind, he was trying to extend a chance to Harry -- a chance for friendship. 

"Y-you what?" Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. He insisted to himself that hey must have crashed in the car on the way home and this was all just a big, long dream that emergency room drugs were making him imagine or that this was the last flash of thought before he died in a horrible crash. Surely, this could not be real.

"Yeah, Hazza, just like how I lied and said I thought I was late. I knew when I was supposed to be here, I just couldn't wait." Louis turned away and laid down on the couch, his back up against the opposite arm from Harry. "I waited for a long time for you to say something. I didn't want to embarrass you or make you uncomfortable and I also, kinda, didn't know what to say and ended up waiting too long. Then, I graduated and realized I missed a chance of even saying hello to you, so when your mom called my mom asking how old my sisters were and if they were old enough to babysit, I jumped at the chance. Figured, well, I never even got to say hi, but then again neither did you, so I figured I'd just throw everything out there. Before we both totally missed the chance."

Harry turned and looked at Louis and found himself a lot more at ease with the other boy. This was all happening on a whim for both of them, but it wasn't until then that Harry noticed that the other boy’s cheeks were flushing a light pink color, too. He immediately wanted to ease Louis’ mind and said, "I always wanted to say hi, but you always seemed so far away. I guess because of our age differences, our grades, our friends, everything... A-and you’re a really, really good singer in my opinion..." Harry started to just spill his mind in an attempt to help Louis feel like he wasn't the only one putting his thoughts on the line. 

"Thanks, Hazza," Louis said as he reached forward and messied Harry’s curls again.

"I told you, don't call me that!" Harry swatted at Louis’ hand and Louis just laughed.

**\----**

Around 11:30, Harry's mother arrived home and entered through the front door. The only light on was creeping out the living room past the stairs. She set her purse down on the caddy by the entryway and made her way back to the living room. "Boys?" She looked into the dark living room, seeing Louis’ hair over the back. She took a few more steps and saw that the television was on and the title screen of some DVD was playing on repeat, then saw Louis leaning against the back of the couch diagonally towards one arm and Harry laying out flat across the couch, his head resting against Louis’ thigh. Louis’ arm was draped around the younger boy as the two snoozed on the couch.

She walked back into the entryway and made her way up the stairs, kicking her heels off by her bedroom door. She made her way over to her vanity and looked at her reflection, noting the elated smile across her face. She slipped out of her dress and into her pajamas, then made her way back downstairs. 

"Louis, dear," she said as she stirred Louis from his sleep. 

"Oh, hey, Mrs. S," he said, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. "What time is it?" 

"It’s about 12:15 now, dear," she said, "You two were out cold, so I let you two sleep a little longer. You're the first sitter he’s gotten along with, you know!" She had her smile still painted widely across her face as she stared at her son. 

"Oh, well, that's good, then, right?" Louis moved carefully away from the younger boy in order not to wake him and followed Harry’s mother back into the entryway. 

"That's more than good, it's just wonderful!" She began to dig through her purse and pulled out a small envelope, "He’s had a tough time since his father and I split up, so seeing him asleep with a smile on his face is definitely refreshing. Usually he’s curled up in a ball in his bed with his eyebrows all wrinkled up like he’s pissed off at the world." 

Louis has to stifle himself from smiling too widely. He hasn't noticed that Harry was smiling in his sleep. "Well, I'm glad I could help, tonight, then." He took the envelope extended toward him by Harry’s mother. 

"If you really want to be glad you helped, then you’ll keep helping in the future!" Harry’s mother smiled at the younger boy as she opened the front door, "I want you to become his regular sitter, if you’re up for that, dear?"


	2. The New Sitter: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back by popular demand is an addition installment to The New Sitter! 
> 
> The response I got on this story was insane. I got so many hits on Tumblr and in less than 48 hours, 600+ hits on AO3. Now it's already over 1,100 hits, so I guess it's only fair to add a little more onto the story. 
> 
> Seriously, thank you so much to everyone who encouraged me to continue this. I hope I'm still entertaining you. xx
> 
> Please enjoy! 
> 
> P.S. I know Harry's birthday is in February, but it's AU, so just don't.  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story everyone. I hope you enjoy the second addition to this oneshot. Also, expect a third part, just because everyone was so wonderful about this. Seriously, thank you.

"Harry, can you come down here sweetheart?" 

Harry trotted down the stairs to find his mother in a form-fitting black dress with a pair of royal blue heels which matched her sapphire necklace. 

"Come on!" Harry sighed because he knew what this behavior meant: a babysitter. Again. "You're going to have to let me out of your sight eventually, you know." 

"Oh, honey, not until I'm dead," his mother joked morbidly. She winked at him as he groaned.

"Well, who is it going to be?" Harry took a seat on the bottom of the stairwell as per their usual routine when his mother prepared for one of her nights out. 

"It's Louis, dear," his mother said plainly, checking the seam of the side of her dress. "This part may be too high..." 

Harry gulped as he felt his heart beat a little faster. "I-I thought you said last time that he wasn't your first choice. Why are you calling him again?" 

"You two seemed to get along really well," she said as she pulled down at her dress. "When I came home you two were asleep on the couch and you seemed like you'd had a good night. Unless I was wrong?" Her tone changed to one of concern as she met her son's eyes. She noticed something had changed in his demeanor.

"No, no, not at all. He's a good guy..." Harry's voice trailed off as he fell back into his own thoughts. He had a good time that much, but he found that it was still difficult to process all the events of the night. Harry found that an entire fantasy crush situation becoming reality in one night tended to leave one's head pretty foggy. 

"Well, good then!" Harry mother slipped on a royal blue pea coat, but left it unbuttoned and nodded at herself in the mirror. "He'll be here any minute."

"Of course he will," Harry sighed. His mother needed to give him a bit more than a two minute heads up about this kind of stuff, though, to be fair, up until this point, all of his reactions in the past tended toward the outrageous. But now things were just -- complicated. 

Three thumps on the door signaled the arrival of the new sitter. Harry mother greeted Louis at the door where the two exchanged pleasantries for a moment -- how's the family, there's money on the kitchen counter, the usual babysitter-parent pleasantries. 

"See you tonight, Hazza!" His mother blew him a kiss, turned her wrist, and then waved at him as she exited. 

Louis stood in the entry way and said goodbye to Harry's mother, then closed the door and turned to face the younger boy. He smiled warmly, "Hey, Hazza." 

"I told you not to call me that," Harry returned. His heart raced inside his chest, though this being the second time he had been home alone with Louis took some of the stress off of him. He felt tense, but not nearly as tense as last time. 

"Sorry, Haz, I just really like it. It rolls off the tongue really well." Louis kicked off his shoes by the front door and removed his beanie. His hair followed the beanie up, at first, but then gently fell back into feathered strands against his forehead. 

Harry noticed now how long Louis' hair was. He admired how Louis' hair came down and framed his face and rested along the top of the rims of his black glasses. 

"How've you been?" Louis broke the silence that filled the room. He sat next to Harry on the foot of the stairs and bumped his shoulder into the younger boy's frame. 

Harry rocked with the rhythm of the motion and felt warmth in the spot Louis had grazed. Touch drove Harry's heart into overtime. Each thump sounde louder and louder to the point where he was convinced that Louis could hear them as well. He tried to calm himself down by explaining some of the summer's events to Louis which included his seventeenth birthday party coming up next week. 

"What're you planning for your party?" 

"We haven't really thought about much yet. I was thinking maybe a barbecue in the back yard, invite some friends over, we can all go swimming have hamburgers -- like a typical summer kind of party, you know?" Harry never planned entirely for these kind of events. He and his mother tended to go with the flow and see what the day and the situation would allow.

"That sounds pretty fun." Louis attempted to make his inflection demonstrate his desire to attend. 

Harry picked up on Louis' tone and realized what the situation implied. His high school crush would be at his house with his friends during a pool party with no shirt on after having just recently exposed all of his secret thoughts and feelings to Harry. The whole situation seemed so complicated that Harry replied, "But that's not for a week, what are we doing tonight?" Harry caught the brief flash of disappointment on Louis' face, but the older boy managed to press the emotion back quickly. 

"Well, I picked last time. What do you feel like doing?" 

"Hmm..." Harry stopped to ponder ideas. He spent a large portion of the day earlier running errands with his mother. Harry felt like staying at home, but what would they do to keep themselves preoccupied while his mother was out? Briefly, an inappropriate thought glazed across Harry's mind and left as soon as it came, but the way he worded his question to himself in his thoughts provoked a suggestive imagery that caused his face to radiate pink. "L-Let's eat in tonight!"

"Eat in? Like cook something?" Louis raised an eyebrow at the younger boy's suggestion. "I mean, that's okay with me, but I don't know how to cook well. Or at all, really." 

"My mother and I cook together a lot," Harry said, "I can make something for us." Harry and his mother bonded over the cooking process after the divorce. It was the main use of their time in the evenings when she wasn't preoccupied with a date. Harry enjoyed cooking, but he also wanted an excuse to help distract him from Louis' return. 

"Maybe you can teach me a thing or two," Louis replied as he stood up from the stairs. He offered a hand to Harry to help him from his seat on the stairs, but Harry pulled himself up using the banister and walked past Louis quickly towards the kitchen. Louis sighed to himself as he silently wondered the cause of Harry's distant behavior.

**\-----**

Harry wiped another smear onto his mother's apron as he continued to stir the ingredients for the stir fry sauce into a small pot. He'd already started the vegetables on a simmer in an almost comedically oversized wok on the stove.

Louis stood to Harry's side, out of the path between the stove and the kitchen. Louis found the image before him to be endearing. Harry was wearing an apron with ruffles as he made dinner for the two of them in an enormous dish. The whole image seemed cute in a goofy way to Louis, but it also seemed very domestic. He pictured the two a little bit older and imagined Harry taller and past his awkward teen years, but pictured him still wearing a cheesy apron to cook for the two of them in... 

"What are you smiling so wide at?" Harry had finished creating his sauce and noticed the dreamy grin pasted across Louis' face. Harry found it odd since they'd been sitting in silence for the past twenty minutes while Harry prepared their meal. 

Louis focused on reality and shifted the focus of his smile to Harry, "Honestly, I was thinking about the future. And about how you wearing an apron is kinda cute. Like a little housewife or something cooking dinner for me." 

Harry huffed and began to untie the knot in the back of the garment. 

"No, no, I'm not making fun of you," Louis chimed in, "I don't want you to get something on your clothes and then blame me for it." 

Harry shot a questioning glare towards Louis who returned as sincere of a smile as he could. "Alright, then." 

"You aren't going to teach me anything about what you're doing? How am I supposed to learn if you keep doing everything so quickly?" Louis moved up behind Harry and rested his chin onto the younger boy's shoulder. He stood approximately the same height as Louis, but he still had even more time left to continue growing. Louis thought about Harry being a little taller and cooking in a slightly-too-small apron and staved off a giggle. 

Harry tensed his muscles as he felt the older boy's chin and neck wedge into the contours between his head, neck, and shoulder. It felt so comfortable and natural, but Harry quickly turned and made an additional, nonessential lap to the refrigerator and back. Harry thought Louis moved pretty quickly. First, Louis confessed an attraction in the matter of a night on the first night they actually spoke to one another. Nothing happened at all that night other than falling asleep together on the couch, but now Louis felt comfortable enough to practically cuddle Harry? Harry found it all strange. 

"Hazza?"

Harry realized how long he'd been preoccupied in his thoughts. "Oh, well, all that's left is to add the meat after the vegetables have simmered a little longer, then we just cook that and add the rest and it'll be done, so there's not really much left to teach." 

"Oh..." Louis's voice trailed off as the boy walked back around the other side of the kitchen walkway and leaned onto the counter. He stared at Harry as the younger boy continued to avoid a direct glance. "Well, it smells delicious!" 

"Thanks!" Harry's form perked up a bit at the compliment. Harry took a certain level of pride in his cooking, so compliments in that arena brightened his mood easily. 

Louis sighed as he continued to lean on the counter. Harry seemed like a very up and down kind of person. He wanted to get to know the Harry that was beyond the guarded exterior he structured so firmly. He remembered the few cursory glances he stole while the two were in high school.

**\-----**

"I'm telling you, that kid is totally following you," Niall insisted. He was the first who noticed Harry's persistent presence in the hallways. "I looked him up while I was working in the office the other day and he's a freshman, his name is Harry Styles. The home address was actually really close to your place, too, just another block over."

"I'm still not even sure who you're talking about, Niall," Louis placed little stock into some of the things the blonde said because Niall tended to get a little carried away with things occasionally despite the actual gravity of the issue. "Plus, couldn't you get into trouble for pulling up someone else's file while you're there?" 

"Just look for the kid with the curly hair, he's almost your height, he's in a lower grade than us, he usually keeps to himself as far as I've noticed, but I'm telling you, every time I see you in between classes, I see that kid, too!" Niall patted him on the shoulder and rushed off to class as he ended his statement and ignored the question.

Louis turned to watch the blonde make his way down the hallway, but as he started to turn back, he noticed Niall turn around and point... to a bush of chocolate brown curls. The indication piqued Louis' interest since Niall had just finished telling Louis about the kid and was then able to point him out because he happened to be nearby. 

"Harry Styles, eh?" Louis headed towards his own class and took another glance over his shoulder as he passed the boy. 

Louis proceeded about his days normally following the conversation with Niall, but he became more cognizant of his surroundings as well. Surely enough, Louis started to notice that the chocolate brown curls were always in the hallways between classes.

Louis remembered the day he noticed Harry beyond just "the stalker kid." It was the day he managed to make eye contact with the younger boy. He'd finally gotten a glimpse past what the chocolate curls tried so desperately to cover. He noticed the deep emerald orbs and the plump red lips, the softness of his cheeks and the dimple as the boy turned his eyes to the floor and smiled. 

Louis almost expected Harry to show up at the coffee shop on the nights he sang. Something in his gut told him that he would see Harry at the next performance and his gut proved him right when the following week he noticed the chocolate brown curls stuffed into a knit beanie near the hallway towards the entrance. He stole glances at the boy and realized that the boy was trying to remain unnoticed, but recognized a more intent focus when he sang a certain song, which happened to be the opening song from one of his favorite movies.

Louis never approached Harry because he could see in the boy's demeanor that he struggled with his attraction to Louis. Whether it was platonic or not, something about Louis just caused Harry to gravitate toward him. Louis maintained his own set of reservations as well. Louis remembered seeing a large amount of shows and movies about the weird kid who stuck out. In those situations, the viewer always wants to side with the underdog, but in that situation the the viewer also knows the character's story. All he knew was that the boy was a quiet freshman with the purest green eyes, reddest lips, and cutest dimples he'd ever seen. 

When graduation rolled around, Louis remembered standing with many of his classmates as they all scanned the audience and waved to family and friends. He followed suit, but also searched across the school's auditorium for those chocolate curls. However, when he found them, his burst of joy faded quickly into a wave of disappoint.

**\-----**

"You know, there's a reason I was so direct last time I was here." Louis laid the silverware he'd gathered next to the two plates he'd set at the dinner table.

Harry placed two separate bowls onto the table, one containing rice and the other containing the stir-fried vegetables and meat. He avoided the statement and fished a serving spoon out of a drawer near the stove. 

"I'm not usually so viciously forward with stuff like that," Louis continued as the two took their seats on opposite sides of the table, "but I missed my chance in high school because I waited for so long to say something that I ended up waiting too long and I lost my chance."

Harry squirmed where he was sitting. Emotion swirled inside his chest and he felt his cheeks flush a bit. 

_"Shit!"_

"Wh-what's wrong? Are you okay?" Harry made eye contact with Louis and a look of concern washed over his face. Harry realized that Louis had taken a bite of his food and was making a face. He also realized just how actively he tried to avoid Louis' eyes. 

"Haz, this is incredible. Like, incredible with a capital I. And capital every other letter." Louis' mouth was flooded with subtle flavors as the liquids from the meat and vegetables joined one another with every bite and danced on his tongue. He chewed the first few bites slowly by reflex to enjoy the combination of spices Harry used to season the meat. 

"You really think so?" Harry's entire form glowed in reflection of how he perceived the compliment. 

"Seriously, this is the best meal I've had in a while." Louis continued to eat, but noticed how Harry's entire physical state changed as he basked in the compliment. 

Harry definitely felt more at ease as he relished the feedback from his job well done. Harry knew he was a good cook. He heard the same compliments from his mother frequently, but for some reason, coming from Louis they seemed like the most genuine and sincere praise he'd ever received. 

Louis finished his meal very quickly. Harry followed almost as quickly with his own meal. Louis stood from the table and collected his bowl then collected Harry's. He carried the bowls to the sink where he proceeded to start to wash the dishes. 

"You really don't have to do that, Louis!" Harry moved from his seat and tried to reach past Louis and take the scrubbing pad from him, but Louis held him back with his elbow. "It's the least I can do for the amazing meal. You can dry, though, if you want. I know I always feel awkward when guests try to do chores for me."

"It's not really awkward, it just isn't your mess, so you shouldn't have to clean it up. In my opinion, anyways." Harry grabbed the towel near the sink and began to dry the dishes as Louis handed them to him. 

"Yeah, I suppose, but I ate the food, so I shouldn't get the privilege and expect to not have to do anything, either." Louis saw Harry's dimple cut into his cheek. Harry really appreciated the compliments, Louis noted. 

"Well, thanks." Harry continued to dry what Louis passed to him. He felt very content with this routine. It all seemed very domestic and normal. 

"No problem, Hazza." Louis smiled and nudged Harry with his elbow. 

Harry sighed, "I told you not to call me that." Harry glanced at Louis with a scowl and Louis just smiled that smile that could stop a heart. 

"Hey, I have an idea," Louis said as he handed Harry the last dish, "Grab your shoes, okay?" Louis fished his keys out of his pocket and headed towards the front door. 

"Why? Where are we going?" Harry hurriedly put his shoes on and followed Louis to the front door. 

"It's a surprise!"

**\-----**

The two boys were slammed with the smell of sugar as they entered the small ice cream shop a few blocks away. Harry wore a wide grin as they entered and made his way over to the frozen yogurt machines on the opposite side of the wall. Louis followed him and the two held their cups as they examined the plaques with the names of the flavors.

"I think I'm going to go with something fruity," Louis said as he pulled the handle labeled tropical sorbet. He added small amounts of a few other fruit flavors and watched as Harry filled his cup up with a couple of fruit flavors and a tart flavor. 

When the two approached the counter to pay, Harry fished the money his mother had left on the counter out of his pocket, but Louis handed the cashier money out of his own wallet. 

"My mom left money, we can just use that. You don't have to pay for it," Harry objected. 

"Yeah, I know," Louis replied as he took his change, then walked to one of the tables, "but I want to." 

Harry sat on the opposite side of the table and gave him a quizzical look. "You want to?" 

"Yeah, you made me dinner, so I took you for dessert. How's that sound?" Louis grinned as he took a bite of his dessert, licking the cool yogurt off the corner of his lips. 

"It sounds like..." Harry trailed off as he watched the older boy's tongue glide across his bottom lip. 

"A date?" Louis watched Harry's face turn a dark crimson red as usual when he breached the topic of romanticism. It seemed like it was Harry's reflexive reaction any time the subject was brought up. Harry remained quiet though and continued to eat his dessert. They remained silent for a short time, but the silenced seemed much longer when the subject was a date. This silence made Louis wonder if he'd pushed a little too hard. 

"Kind of," Harry finally chimed in. He maintained his focus on his dessert, but wanted to at least contribute something to the conversation. Harry still found it difficult to focus on the idea of actually spending time with his unrequited (at least, he thought unrequited) crush from high school. Harry felt happiness in his situation, but he also couldn't shake the anxiety he felt as well. 

"I'd like that." Louis smiled as he finished the last bite of his dessert. 

"Me too." Harry realized he really could not resist that smile. Louis smiled with his whole face and that smiled punched a hole in his anxiety every single time it flashed across Louis' face. 

"You done? Ready to get back to your place?" Louis held his hand out to take Harry's empty yogurt cup to throw them away. Harry handed his cup to Louis and watched as the older boy walked to the trash can. He admired Louis' figure. He didn't consider Louis to be attractive in a worldly sense, because he wasn't built like a supermodel or anything, but Harry found Louis incredibly attractive. His face, his smile, his hair, his glasses, his smaller form, his smooth skin, the way he walked, the way he talked -- so many aspects of Louis just forced emotions into his mind that he never experienced in the past. As the two exited the shop and climbed back into Louis' car, he realized he had been swept up by Tornado Tomlinson.

**\-----**

Once the boys had arrived back at Harry's house, they settled onto the couch in the living room and Harry began absent-mindedly flipping through television shows.

"I never got to finish my thought before we ate dinner," Louis said as he shifted to be sitting with his legs crossed on the couch. She took off his glasses, wiped the lenses on the edge of his shirt, then sighed to prepare himself for his spiel from before dinner. 

"In high school, you always seemed really... bashful, I guess is the word? Anyways, I put off talking to you because I was afraid that I might scare you off if you weren't ready to talk yet. I didn't realize that I'd end up putting it off so long that I would end up graduating before we even got to actually speak." Louis watched as Harry's arm slumped to his side with the remote. Harry stared forward at the television, but Louis knew Harry was focusing on his words. "I mean, it may sound kind of funny, but since I always saw you in between classes that just made me want to know you. It was like even though everything else around me was constantly changing, I could always rely on one thing being the same. It was nice." 

Harry turned and looked at Louis and noticed a strange expression. It looked bittersweet. Louis seemed like he genuinely regretted the way things played out, but also seemed happy that he was getting to say everything now. Harry felt calm. He saw a really human side of Louis beyond the glorified image of a crush finally speaking to him -- he saw Louis the person and not Louis the crush. He realized that, before this point, he'd been overemphasizing the whole situation in his mind. 

"Well, things just happened to pan out very coincidentally that your mom called my mom and I ended up over here. I thought about it, too. I mean, if I would have ended up letting the opportunity pass to say hi, but then I just found that spark to just say everything. I know it's been overwhelming for you sometimes. You make that really clear with all the blushing and the silence and looking away, but I just wanted to let you know --" 

Harry's impulse flared. The whirlwind of confusion inside of him took hold during Louis' speech and pushed him beyond his own anxiety and doubts. Harry shifted his weight, leaned forward on his knees as he propped himself up with his left hand, and he met Louis' lips with his own. He surprised Louis with this reaction, but the older boy quickly hushed himself and returned the kiss with pressure from his own lips. Louis moved his hand up to Harry's neck and felt the fire of a blush in the younger boy's skin. He cradled Harry's neck in his hand as the two held their kiss for what seemed like eternity as the white hot crackle of emotional electricity danced underneath their skins. Harry leaned forward further which caused the two to topple backward onto the couch. The two lied on the couch side by side and exchanged gentle kisses, each showed the other the sincerity of their emotions. The two continued their affections for some time and their pace slowed between each kiss until the two finally broke apart. Louis rested his forehead against Harry's and ran his fingers through those familiar chocolate curls. 

"My birthday party is supposed to be family and only a few friends, but I think you should come," Harry whispered as he tried to keep his heart from erupting inside his chest. 

"Sure, Hazza, I'd love to." Louis smiled at the younger boy and then planted a kiss on his forehead. 

"I told you not to call me that," Harry returned. As the soft lips stamped his forehead, he just smiled and nuzzled into the older boy's embrace.


	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to everyone who's been so kind to read, comment, and kudo this story. You are all inspirational. This chapter is going to have more substantial plot compared to the others. I hope you enjoy. 
> 
> Also, for the record just because I know I'll hear about it at some point, since this is an AU fic, the parent characters are not meant to reflect the boys' parents. 
> 
> Also, as a final note, I realized I skipped right over an inconsistency in the last chapter which I edited. His party is family and a few friends only, not family only. I always rush the end of a chapter/part and that tends to happen. Sorry for the inconsistency! It's been corrected, but there's the change in the notes to avoid confusion. 

Harry's mother paced the kitchen. She figured that she must be overreacting, surely. She paced as she tried to figure out how to breach the subject to Harry. She wanted to talk about the issue, but also wanted to be delicate with the subject. She had trouble in the past when she approached a topic too aggressively. In the past, Harry became indignant and defensive quickly which usually left whatever the initial problem was unresolved. She wanted to avoid a repetition of the past -- especially with such a sensitive subject. She knew Harry was still awake, but reasoned that it may be too late to talk to him. She focused herself, though, and decided that it was now or never. 

"Harry, dear, would you come down here?" 

Harry thunked his way down the stairwell. He expected to see his mother in a set of exuberant heels and a flashy dress, but instead found her in her night robe with slippers in the kitchen. She sat in the dim light of the overhead light on the stove with a cup of tea in her hand. She looked very tired. When he entered the kitchen, he checked the clock on the oven's display. It glowed a bright green 12:15 am. 

"Yeah, mum?" He advanced further into the dimly lit kitchen cautiously as one would with a situation where they are not sure of what exactly is about to occur. 

"Sit down, dear, we need to talk." His mother indicated a stool near the island in the middle of the kitchen. Harry slowly approached the stool and perched himself on it. His mother sighed and rubbed her hand across her forehead, then down the side of her face. She rested her chin into her palm and looked at Harry in silence for a moment. 

In the silence, Harry's heart pounded. The situation with his mother felt like an inquisition. He frantically tried to piece together the last night Louis had stayed over. He remembered their kiss, remembered sleeping on the couch together, and he remembered being woken up by his mother nudging Louis. Louis slept so closely to Harry that the nudge caused both of them to wake, but his mother's reaction had been normal. She did not seem disturbed or confused. She just thanked him, paid him, and walked him out. Surely, she had not figured out they kissed? 

"Harry, I'm seeing someone," his mother quickly blurted out. The words startled Harry, but his mother looked equally as shocked. It seemed, to Harry, like his mother was not even sure of what words she was looking for before they came out of her mouth. 

"What do you mean?" Harry knew his mother had signed up for a dating service, but so far she'd never mentioned anyone by name. His mother always used the phrase "I'm meeting up with someone." Harry never thought it was always someone different, but he also never thought it was someone new -- he simply did not think about it. His lack of attention made this news startling even though it wasn't unexpected. 

"The past handful of times I've gone out, I've been seeing the same person. His name is Richard and I really think you'd like him, Hazza." Harry's mother smiled weakly at her son. She sighed again as she approached the difficult part of her disclosure to her son. "And..." Her voice trailed off. She took a sip of tea as she prepared herself.

"... and?" Harry stared forward at his mother. His expression read a mild degree of shock, but maintained neutrality as he awaited the rest of the news. 

"Well, dear, he wants to meet you. And I want you to meet him -- so I invited him to your birthday party tomorrow." His mother winced.

"You what?!" Harry jumped from his perch on his barstool and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Mum, Dad's going to be there. Don't you think there's a different day that I can meet this guy! It is my birthday party after all, I don't want you two to end up fighting over something because some guy I didn't even invite is there!" Harry realized how loudly he was speaking. He inhaled deeply then exhaled in an attempt to calm down the intensity of the panic that coursed through his veins. 

"That's the other thing, Haz," his mother sighed as she brushed aside some disheveled locks of hair that were strewn across his face, "Your father isn't going to be here tomorrow. He called me and cancelled earlier tonight... I'm sorry, dear..." 

Harry slumped back down onto the stool. He looked at his mother's face in the dim lighting as he made out the disappointed look for her son. He knew that she was disappointed for him, but he knew there also had to be a part of her that was glad he would not be there. Both of his parents had their misgivings; he knew his mother could be petty with issues involving his father. 

"Yeah, mum." Harry stood up from the stool and walked out of the kitchen and ignored his mother as she called after him. She stayed in the kitchen, though. She decided not to follow him and start an ordeal, so she leaned back against the kitchen counter and sipped her tea.

**\-----**

The next day, the summer sun showered the backyard with warm rays. The light reflected off of the pool which caused light to dance across the side of the house. Harry laid in the sunlight on a lounger by the side of the pool as he soaked up the sunlight. His swim trunks were a mix of warm colors and came halfway down his thighs, but framed his waist in an appealing way. He raised his sunglasses onto the top of his head as he applied another layer of sunscreen to himself.

"So," his mother called out as she entered the backyard, "how's it feel being seventeen now, Haz? Are you feeling like a geezer yet?" His mother grinned at him as she entered the bright sunlight. Her bikini showed off her above average form and a large sunhat hid her face and upper shoulders from the sun. 

"I feel just the same as ever," Harry answered neutrally as he looked up to his mother. He shrugged and returned to applying sunscreen. 

"Well dear," she continued through a slight sigh, "Guess who's here?" She clapped her hands together and smiled. 

Harry tensed up. He did not like the idea of her being so chipper upon introducing him to the reason his father wouldn't be attending his birthday party. He turned his head to look past her at the back door, where Louis stood in a white scoop neck shirt, bright neon blue swim trunks and a pair of plain sandals. He held a small bag in his hands which had colorful tissue paper sticking out of it. This sight surprised Harry because he realized he did not expect Louis to bring a gift. His curiosity piqued. 

"I didn't even realize you'd invited him! I'm so glad you two are getting on so well!" 

"Hey Ha... rry!" Louis almost stumbled across his words and called Harry by the nickname Harry's mother used. He avoided it due to not knowing how his mother would react to the use of the pet name by her son's babysitter. 

"Lou!" Harry grinned as he clambered over his chair and jogged over to the two. "I'm glad you came! I didn't expect you to get me a gift, though..." Harry peered over the top of the bag trying to get a glimpse of its contents. 

"No, not till later," Louis said as he pulled the bag away from Harry's sight, "I'll tell you when you get to open this one, okay?" He winked at Harry then glanced up at Harry's mother and asked her if there was somewhere he could put away the bag until later. She nodded, whispered her secret location in Louis' ear, and took the bag inside to hide. 

"Am I the first one here?" Louis glanced around the backyard admiring the pool area, but also noticing that it was currently completely barren. Then he turned and admired Harry who was squinting in the bright reflection of the sun. Harry had a decently toned body for someone so young. Every inch of his torso seemed very well-proportioned and the lean muscle showed through his skin giving him the slight outline of abdominal muscles. Louis looked Harry over for a moment then returned to meet his eyes. 

"Well right now it's 12:15," Harry said as he checked the time on his phone, which rested on a small table next to the pair of loungers, "and since the party starts at 1:30... yes." Harry chuckled at how eager Louis seemed, though it was not unusual based on his past behavior. Harry truly appreciated the display, though. It had been almost a month since the first night Louis babysat and a week since they had first kissed, so Harry had managed to get over a good portion of his anxiety about seeing Louis. 

"Sorry about that..." Louis scratched the back of his neck as he spoke. "I hope I'm not being an inconvenience or anything!" 

Harry scoffed at the older boy and plopped down on the lounger he'd been sitting on earlier. He patted the seat of the one next to him to indicate Louis should lay next to him. He also offered up the sunscreen to Louis. Louis thanked him and began to lift up his shirt. The rest of the process occurred in slow motion to Harry. Harry watched as the older boy lifted his shirt and he felt his stomach somersault. Louis had an above average form, but it was incredibly attractive. He had a smaller frame than Harry, but still was not wispy, which Harry found perfect and Louis' arms maintained their shaping beyond just filling out the sleeve of a shirt. Harry bit his bottom lip to keep his jaw from dropping. 

"Help me with my back, Haz?" Louis grinned and squirted some of the sunscreen into Harry's hand, which made Harry's anxiety resurface. He overcame most of it, but not all of it. He rubbed the lotion between his palms which heated it up some, then placed his hands onto Louis' shoulders. They were firm, strong. Harry moved his hands down Harry's back onto his shoulder blades and down his spine and admired every new curve and muscle he found. He felt his heart thumping inside his chest. He had never seen Louis without a shirt before, but now he was not only seeing it but also rubbing lotion onto him. As per usual with Louis, when new things came up, they escalated quickly. 

Louis felt his skin ignite with every caress of Harry's hands. He wanted the younger boy to help him apply lotion, but also did not expect his body to react in the manner it was. Every trace of Harry's hands caused Louis' skin to tingle. His skin raised goosebumps in each area Harry touched. 

"You should be good now..." Harry said as he patted Louis' back. He leaned back onto his lounger and placed his sunglasses back over his eyes to cover their wide expression. Louis followed suit and laid out on his lounger. The two laid there in the sun and tried to slow down their racing teenage hearts. 

After a few moments passed, a loud crackling noise erupted across the back yard followed by a strong electronic beat which the boys recognized as the intro to a Ke$ha song. Harry groaned as he saw his mother enter the back yard once again with a tray full of lemonade. She danced in that way only a mother dances: with no rhythm, no style, just a lot of uncoordinated movement. 

"Hazzaaaaa!!" She placed the tray of glasses between the boys and grinned wide at her son. "Aren't you glad we had these speakers installed out here a few years ago? I thought we'd never end up using them, so may as well today, right?" His mother stopped gyrating and gleamed at her son and Louis as she masked her attempt to catch some of the breath she'd lost. 

"I don't really care for Ke$ha much, but her songs are all so catchy," Louis added with a grin -- the same grin that always made Harry's heart thump inside his chest. Then Louis stood up and started to dance goofily by his mother's side. She glowed and donned a wide, toothy grin as her and Louis began to goofily dance around the pool area. 

Harry tried to contain his laughter, but soon found himself curled over the side of the lounger gasping for air. Harry laughed until he cried as the older boy danced around with his mother. 

"Hey, now, mind if I cut in?" A voice called out from over the hedge. Only Harry's mother recognized the voice as the three of them turned to face a tall man with brown hair accented with silvery wisps of hair. He wore dark glasses on the top of his head, a Hawaiian shirt that only a business man would find festive, white shorts, and strapped brown sandals. 

"Richard!" His mother left Louis' side and made her way to the hedge and, much to Harry's surprise, kissed him over the hedge. "Come around, the gate's by the back door! Come, come!" 

Louis examined the scene before him and then glanced at Harry. He saw a disdainful look on his face. He realized that Harry was quite far from okay with the situation that had just played out before him. Harry leaned back onto his lounger with a barely noticeable scowl on his face. Louis sat on his lounger and took one of the lemonades from the tray and sipped at the cool, sour drink. 

"Harry, dear, this is Richard!" She lead the older man over to the boys by hand and stood him in front of Harry's lounger. 

"Hi," Harry said plainly from his reclined position on the lounger. He wanted to yell, but he did not want to cause a scene on front of Louis and also did not think there would be a point in disagreeing with his mother's whim. However, he reasoned that just because he was not picking a fight did not mean he had to appreciate the situation as it was. 

"Hey there, champ! Your mum's told me a lot about you!" Richard tried to push past the callous front Harry presented.

"That makes one of us, then."

"Harry!" His mother shot him a look, but Harry disregarded it. His mother had sprung all of this information on him the night before his party. He wanted to ask her what she expected from him, but felt he had already pressed the issue enough with his initial comment. Harry's phone chimed as his mother glared at him, so Harry grabbed his phone and rolled off the opposite side of the lounger to take his call. 

"Huh," Richard said plainly, "That didn't go so well, did it?" He turned to face Harry's mother. 

"Don't mind him, he's been a crabapple all morning. Why don't you come inside with me and we can fix ourselves a drink, yeah?" She smiled and rested her hand on the man's chest, then guided him over to the back entrance of the house. 

After the couple entered the house, Harry plopped back onto his lounger with a groan. He rubbed his forehead then took a sip of his drink his mother laid out for him. 

"That was..." Louis paused. He did not know what the appropriate word was for what he had just witnessed. "Awkward? Tense? Weird? All of the above, maybe." 

"That was shit is what that was," Harry dropped his phone on the small table with a loud thud. "And that phone call was shit, too. My friend Liam isn't coming over because his car's broken down again. I haven't heard from Zayn all day, either. Don't know where he is, if he's coming, or what. Everything -- almost everything -- is shit right now."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Louis was unsure of how to approach the topic -- whatever the topic was. He was not even sure what that was. 

"The opposite, actually," Harry said as he removed his sunglasses and placed them on the table, "I want to ignore it." Harry stood up from his lounger and grabbed Louis' wrist and pulled him up. Then, he took a few quick steps and pulled the two if them into the crisp blue waters of the pool. Harry emerged from the depths first followed by an exasperated Louis who came up sputtering. 

"Haz! The hell!" Louis coughed a bit, then cleared his throat. He turned to glare at Harry, but upon seeing the younger boy's poofy curls pasted against his forehead, he burst into laughter. 

"I know exactly what you're laughing at and you should stop!" Harry puffed up his bottom lip into a slight pout.

"I can't help it, you just look like a wet dog. I wasn't prepared for that!" Louis buckled in laughter again and began to float away from Harry in the pool. Harry seized this opportunity to jump onto Louis' shoulders and plunge him into the water once more.

The two boys continued to play around in the water of the pool until the time rolled around to 1:45 pm. The boys climbed out of the waters and dried themselves off on some towels Harry's mother had laid out earlier during the day. The two sat in the warm sun and dried off as they both tried to catch their breath from the intensity of the pool wars. Harry checked his phone and didn't have any missed calls or texts from Zayn, so he sent a text in which he asked if Zayn was still coming or not. The other boy replied fairly quickly saying he wasn't sure but not to wait for him. This disappointed Harry, but it also meant he got to spend the rest of the day with Louis. That thought offered him enough solace to paste a grin on his face.

"Hey, you hungry?" The curly haired boy leaned over the side of his lounger and began to dry himself off as much as he could before heading inside. 

"Yeah! What's for lunch?" Louis held his hand over his eyes to block the sunlight. He watched as Harry wrapped the towel around himself which caused the side of Harry's swim shorts to occasionally rise and offered Louis a further glimpse at Harry's thighs. 'He's just got such a great body,' Louis thought. He admired a lot about Harry. He was the only truly consistent element of his life for the past year and few months.

"Are you boys ready to grill?!" His mother pranced into the backyard followed by Richard with a plate of beef patties she'd fashioned into shape herself from ground beef. "I hope you're hungry because Richard here is excellent with a grill." 

"Oh, great..." Harry muttered under his breath. He knew that Richard being the cook for the burgers would inevitably lead to the "isn't this food great" conversation wherein his mother would ask that question to Harry about the food in an attempt to get him to make some common ground with this -- stranger.

Louis caught Harry's grievance and scowled slightly. He wanted to lean over and pat Harry's shoulder -- something to let him know that he was there for Harry even if he didn't totally understand why Harry was upset. 

"Well," Richard interjected in a very upbeat tone, "let's get to grillin'!"

**\-----**

The four of them had moved to the picnic table which rested on the grassy lawn past the pool. It was surrounded by a large amount of shrubbery which helped block some of the light from the descending afternoon sun. Zayn remained AWOL and Harry resigned himself to the fact that Zayn wouldn't be joining them that evening. Harry wished that he would have had at least one more friend to serve as a buffer between himself and his mother and Richard. They had set the table with disposable plates and silverware and each group had sat on opposing sides of the table. In the middle rested a plate with buns, a plate with patties, and various condiments to top the burgers.

After each had assembled their burger by their own preference, they began to eat. "These hamburger are amazing, Richard! Simply divine. Isn't that right Hazza?" His mother dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin.

Harry sighed at his own ability to predict awkward situations in his future. He opened his mouth, but Louis quickly interjected with his own agreement followed by bumping his knee against Harry's as if to let Harry know that he was being covered. Harry said a silent thank you to the older boy. 

The four of them continued to eat as Harry's mother and her date continued to shoot the breeze with various small talk conversation topics. However, shortly after they'd finished eating, Harry noticed his mother had shifted focus from Richard to behind the two boys near the house.

"Son of a --" 

"CHRISTIIIIIIIIINE --" A bellowing voice echoed across the backyard from near the house. Richard ducked his head into one of his hands and muttered and obscenity. Harry's mother quickly stood up from her seat and shambles over the fixed bench of the picnic table. Harry turned around to see none other than his father pulling forward and backward on the gate to the backyard. Louis raised and eyebrow, but realized that something big was about to happen. 

"CHRISTIIIIIIIIIIINE --"

"Steven! Will you stop screaming, the neighbors are going to call the police." His mother stomped over to the gate and stood i front of it glaring at her ex-husband. She folded her arms across her chest and shifted her weight onto one leg. A stern look crossed her face which demanded and explanation for his presence. 

"Let me see our fuggin' son, Christine," Steven belched loudly, but did not turn his head away from Harry's mother which caused a disgusted look to cross her face. 

"Steven, what the hell, are you drunk?!" The disdain in Christine's voice became apparent with her tone. She had witnessed her ex-husband have one or two drinks too many, but never in the past had he crossed the line to where his breath wreaked of alcohol. She stood firm in her position behind the gate. 

"I'm not drunk, I'm fuggin' mad as hell," Harry's father stated as he tried to get the gate open again, but to no avail, "HAAAAAAARRY!" He stumbled, but managed to balance himself upright against the side of the house. 

Harry was absolutely mortified. If anyone asked Harry the day before what he expected to happen on his birthday, this scenario wouldn't be in the top one hundred thousand probable outcomes. Harry quickly dashed over to the fence with his jaw agape. He struggled for words, but found none. He held his hands out, palms up, jaw slack, with a look of horror on his face. The look was all Harry could manage. 

"Steven, you need to leave, we have company over here and you're causing a scene!" His mother glanced at Louis and Richard who were visibly uncomfortable.

"Yeaaaah, I know ye got company, ye got that fugger Dick over here -- hey son -- thazz what Richard is long for -- Dick! They call Ricchards Dick. Where is the bastard anyways? Ye rubbed it in my face he'd be here instead, so wherzeeat!?" Harry's father leaned against the gate gazing across the backyard. One eye blinked followed by the other a half second behind. It was apparent in Steven's demeanor that he had been drinking heavily. When he spotted the older man sitting at the table with Louis, he began screaming obscenities at him. Steven called Richard every dirty name he could possibly recall. 

Harry turned and looked at Louis who had a look of mild panic painted across his face. It was apparent that Louis had absolutely no clue what was happening and Harry was equally as clueless and equally as appalled. 

"So, Chrizzine... Why is it that he gets to be here and I do not get to be here and he gets to be here and I do not." Steven stumbled again, but crashed into the gate this time and busted it off of its hinges. Christine barely managed to step back from the crashing gate. Once he had gained his footing back, it took him a moment to realize he now had access to the backyard. He took a few steps toward Christine and pointed in her face and screamed, "I wanna see my fuggin kid, ya harpy!" 

"Dad, stop yelling," Harry whispered harshly, "For God's sake there are other people here!" Harry noticed on of the neighbors from across the main road coming outside to examine the source of the screaming. It was apparent that the neighbors were beginning to catch wind of the drama that was ensuing at the Styles household that evening. 

"I'll stob screamin' when ya mum tells me why I had to stay at home today, but I know why iz juzz Richard... I mean, DICK." Steven glared at Christine whose face had twisted into one of the tightest scowls that any human being had possibly ever made. She still crossed her arms, but her fists clenched into tight balls with her nails digging into her skin to alleviate some of her rage towards her ex-husband. 

"What are you talking about? What is he talking about, mum?" Harry turned to his mother to try to get the information quickly in order to bring the end of this situation sooner. For a moment, his mother remained silent. Then, she slowly uncrossed her arms and moved a strand of hair aside from her face before she turned to her son.

"I told him not to come because every time I've gotten in touch with him since the divorce, he's been drunk. The reason he missed your birthday last year wasn't for work, it's because he got so drunk at a pub he ended up spending the night in jail." Christine returned her gaze to her husband and lifted an eyebrow as a proclamation of a challenge against her husband. 

"The only reason I was dringing last year was because you told me I couldn't see Harry agaaaaaaain." He belched loudly and then wiped his mouth with the hair on the back of his arm. 

Harry just stood there. Everything occurred so quickly, Harry barely had time to process anything. He just looked back and forth between his mother and his father in silent confusion. His father had missed his birthday last year, but at the time, he had been working on a fairly large account with the architecture firm -- at least, Harry thought he had. Now he wasn't sure what the truth was. 

"I'll call you later," Richard said as he approached the divorcées. He excused himself faster than Steven was able to respond to his departure and Christine just sighed and shook her head. Upon Richard's departure, the gloves came off. The two began screaming at each other full force about Harry's father's drinking, Harry's mother overstepping on the divorce -- it all reminded Harry of the divorce process and was beginning to initiate a small panic attack for the seventeen year old. Harry covered his ears and began to hum as he turned and walked away from the couple back to the picnic table. His face had grown very red and his breathing had become strained. He clenched his eyelids shut with everything he could muster as he tried to drown out all sensory input from the argument. Harry walked until he finally bumped into something. 

"Jesus Christ, Hazza," Louis whispered to himself as he stood in front of Harry. He wrapped one arm around the younger and led him inside as the two adults continued to scream with such fury that the veins in their necks and foreheads seemed on the verge of explosion. 

Harry sat for a moment with his eyes clenched shut as Louis ran his fingers through Harry's curls trying to calm him down. As Harry's tension eased up, he finally loosened the grip on his ears -- 

"Get the fuck out of here Steven or else I'm calling the fucking cops again and you can spend another night in jail!" The back door swung open and violently crashed into the door jam mounted on the wall.

"Do it then, you crass bitch! I just want to see my fuggin' kid and tell him happy fuggin birthday, but you won't even let me in the god damn house!" Harry's father's voice echoed in from outside through the open door. 

Harry immediately clammed back up and his breathing became even more strained and sporadic before. Louis had witnessed a student in his grade have a panic attack once, but it didn't even compare in scale or measure to what he witnessed with Harry. Louis watched as Harry's face began to swell slightly and the vein in his forehead began to swell, causing his whole face to glow a dark crimson red. Harry's jaw clenched shut, so the heavy breathing caused a trail of snot to begin to run down Harry's top lip. His fingers gripped so tightly into the hair around his ears that strands were torn out and the root was visible on strands that were trapped between Harry's fingers. His arms had contracted around his chest and his knees pulled together. His body resembled a standing version of the fetus position. 

Louis' pulse raced. He observed that Harry very clearly needed some help. He felt a sharp pain shoot across his neck as a rock whizzed into the kitchen through the open door. The rock grazed the side of his neck and caused a small trail of blood to begin oozing down his neck. After the sharp pain, a loud shatter filled the home as the rock crashed into the wine cabinet in the dining room connected to the kitchen. 

"You drunk son of a bitch, I'm calling the god damn police! You better pray, Steven, because you're about to need all the help you can get." Harry's mother stomped in from the other room as she mashed buttons angrily on the house phone. "Louis, I want you to take Harry to your place. I know this is last minute --" 

"Thank God," Louis interrupted with relief. He gathered up his gift bag and his keys, hurried upstairs and grabbed a shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of underwear from Harry's dresser, rushed back down the flight of stairs, and led the panicking boy from the kitchen out of the front door. He opened the passenger side of the car and wedged Harry into the seat and then climbed into the driver's side of the car and peeled out of the driveway. Louis thanked his mother for picking a house so close to Harry's, which made the trip to his home take less than five minutes in total.

On the way to his home, Louis called and briefly explained the situation to his mother. As he pulled into the driveway, his mother was waiting in the driveway with a worried look on her face. She helped Louis get the still-panicked Harry into the living room and onto the soft leather couch, which rested in the sitting area of the living room set in the lower portion of the divided floor. 

"I'll go out the kettle on, make some tea, maybe that'll help him relax, poor thing..." Louis' mother hurried into the kitchen. She made extra effort in order to be quiet, which Louis explained seemed to help in the beginning when he started to calm down the first time. 

Louis sat next to Harry and continued to gently run his fingers through his hair. He stared at the curly-haired boy and felt such anguish over Harry's current state. He wanted to help him so badly, but was unsure of how to do so. He felt powerless. He wrapped his arms around Harry and held him close to his chest and squeezed firmly around Harry's shoulder and rib cage. He cooed into Harry's ear and insisted that he was okay now for a few minutes, then felt the tension in Harry's muscles start to ease. 

"Lou?" Harry's voice was barely above a whisper. He sniffed which caused a deep rumble from all the pressure built up in his sinuses. He released the grip on the sides of his head and watched as a few small tufts of curls wafted down through the air and landed on his lap. Harry broke down. He sobbed quiet sobs as tears streamed down his face. He never wanted to see his parents fight that badly again and he definitely never wanted Louis to see him in his weak moments. He never expected his birthday to be perfect, but he could not help but wonder what he had done for karma to dish something as nasty as that his direction. 

"I'm right here, Hazza, I'm right here." Louis pulled Harry in closer and held onto him as if he were a precious gem. He felt the younger boy quiver and a spot on his stomach become moist. "It's okay to cry..." He sat there and held the fragile, younger boy and hummed quietly into his ear until Harry finally drifted off into a light slumber.

**\-----**

Harry woke up a few hours later to a dimly lit room that he didn't recognize. The small sitting area he was in was a living room that was furnished extremely differently from his crowded, small living room at home. He looked around and examined the large open space which was lit a hazy blue by the light of the image on the television screen. Harry shifted his weight and sat up.

"Oh, you're awake." 

Harry turned and saw that he had been sleeping on Louis. The boy stretched his body out and groaned. He looked very relieved by the movement, which prompted Harry to ask how long he had been asleep for. When he learned that it was just after 8 pm, he did the math and concluded he'd been sleeping on Louis for almost two hours. Louis had not moved for two hours just to let Harry sleep. 

"I'm sorry about all of that," Harry said as he turned back around. He sighed and propped his forehead up with his arm. "My family's a little bit of a mess." 

"You don't have to apologize to me, Hazza," Louis said as he rubbed the boy's back with his palm, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. If your mom wouldn't have suggested me taking you, I honestly would have done it myself anyways. I hated seeing you like that..." 

"I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about any of it." Harry stated firmly. He leaned against the back of the couch with his arms folded. 

Louis understood, so he didn't press the issue despite his curiosity about everything. He removed his hand from Harry's back and reached over onto the coffee table and grabbed the gift bag he'd brought to Harry's and slid it around Harry into his lap. "Well, you never got to open your gift. I don't want everything about today to be sour." 

Harry stared at the bag for a moment, then realized he was peeking over the corner of the bag again. He was not in the mood to open a present, but his curiosity got the better of him. He pulled out the colorful tissue paper and saw a plastic case and an envelope inside the bag. Inside of the plastic case was an unlabeled CD. Harry looked at it for a moment, then opened the letter that accompanied it. 

_"I had no idea what to get you, since I know we don't know each other well (yet) so I hope that this doesn't come off as too arrogant or weird. Flip the page over._

_Happy birthday Hazza~_

_xo Lou"_

Harry followed the instructions in the letter and found a numbered list on the back of the page. He recognized some of the numbered items as song titles, but there wasn't an artist name next to any of the tracks on the list. Then, Harry realized what he'd been given. 

"You made me a CD?" Harry looked at the rainbow reflected in the sleek material on the topside of the disk, wondering what the contents sounded like. 

"Yeah, I really hope that's not too weird or anything... I mean it's only five or six songs, but they're ones that I'm pretty sure you liked when I sang them at the coffee shop." Louis held his breath for a moment as he stared at the younger one's back as he held the plastic case. His heart sank when Harry leaned over and set the case onto the coffee table in front of the sofa. "Oh... Well, maybe I can --" Louis was interrupted by Harry who turned around and pulled Louis into a tender, affectionate embrace. He felt Harry's finger cling desperately to his back and realized that Harry must have liked the gift. 

"Thank you, Louis..." Harry sniffed again and fought back another wave of tears. He felt he cried enough for the course of one day, but Louis' gestures had touched him. He felt noticed and truly cared for in that moment. "It's absolutely perfect." 

"You haven't even listened to it yet, silly," Louis whispered as he wrapped his arms around Harry and buried his nose into the bush of curls.

Harry tightened his grip. "It's perfect, Louis."


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the conclusion. I took this oneshot a lot father than I intended to, so this is where I'm going to stop, that way I'll leave things on a happy note -- and I also have another fic that needs to be worked on, because it's fun too. 
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who read this fic and commented and I just wish I could explain to you how much I love you because it's more than I love puppies. Maybe even more than I love punk!louis and flowerchild!harry.

Louis' mother lied when she called Harry's by saying that the two boys ha fallen asleep early in light of the recent controversy at home. She suggested that she allow Harry to stay the night at the Tomlinson residence and reassured her that he would be well taken care of during his stay. Harry's mother only agreed after Louis' mother cleverly pointed out that he was staying with his babysitter, but simply in another location with additional adult supervision. She had made a kettle of tea for the boys to have for the evening and retired to her bedroom. She felt horrible about the incident that occurred at his house and decided it was probably best to leave the two some space from adults for a while, all things considered. She prepared a palette of sheets and pillows on the couch in the living room and made sure to find the softest sheets and fluffiest pillows her home could spare for them. She retired to her bedroom early on in the evening and left the two on the couch in the dim lighting of the television screen.

The two boys spent the majority of the early evening on the couch in silence. Various images flashed across the screen, but the volume had been kept low for the majority of the night. Both of the boys were busy processing all of the events of the evening, so neither objected to the inaudible programming. Louis wanted to ask Harry how he was doing every few minutes, but was unsure of how he could approach the topic since the boy became so reclusive when the situation was occurring. He wanted to ask if the panic attack was something that had happened to Harry before in the past, both being caught in the middle of a serious fight and clamming up in such an unpleasant way. Louis had never seen anything that intense before and he did not like it at all, especially since it happened to Harry.

"My parents got divorced when I was really young," Louis said in an attempt to break the ice, "I barely remember my father honestly. I was old enough to know what was going on, but that was so long ago that most of the memories have faded. My mother tells me that they ended things in kind of a mutual way -- they both realized what they wanted and it wasn't each other. In my dads case, it was either of us. That's how I ended up living with my mother all my life." Louis shifted his weight in his seat and pulled his legs onto the couch underneath him, then shifted again. He found it difficult to get comfortable and could not decide if that was due to the conversation topic or not knowing what was going through Harry's mind. He looked at the younger boy who had found refuge under a quilt his mother had crocheted herself. He had curled up on the couch and had rested his head on the arm of the couch. Louis looked for a moment and tried to read something from Harry's blank stare at the images on the television, but this made him more uneasy because in the entirety of Harry's face he saw nothing. Louis had never seen Harry with such an empty expression.

"Mine got divorced two years ago."

"I'm sorry, Harry." Louis reached out and placed his hand on the younger boy's knee in consolation. "I'm sure that must have been an awful feeling."

Harry pulled his knee away as rolled over onto his side. "I don't really care, though. You see how they are together, I prefer it this way, honestly."

Louis' heart dropped to his gut. He tried to avoid thinking about Harry spending every day in the shitstorm he had just witnessed, but failed. He pictured Harry crammed up in his room as he clutched at his ears with such desperation that he pulled out tufts of hair. He imagined what it must feel like to spend every day in a chaotic war zone where there was no winner and no resolution. The whole scenario seemed so desperately lonely. He concluded that living in that kind of environment must be what prevented him from being able to reach out to other people as easily as everyone else their age. He also felt guilt at how he had approached the situation with Harry. His own aggression startled the younger boy, he was well aware of that, but maybe he had not fully considered Harry during his cathartic release of high school romance.

Louis pulled his hand back, placed it on his thigh, and sighed. "I just want to make sure you're okay, Harry." Louis continued to look at the hopeless stare on Harry's face, but saw him perk up ever so slightly at Louis' mention of concern.

Harry blinked and stole a glance at Louis to check his face. Louis' concern seemed genuine. His mother had always been a little over protective, but something in Louis' stare made him realize that attribute was missing from his mother's stare. He had heard almost the exact sentence from both of them, but something about Louis' expression penetrated him to his core. Perhaps this was caring -- genuine caring. He sat up on his end of the couch and rubbed his eyes with closed fists. Then, he cleared his throat.

"My parents got divorced two years ago and I'm really not sure why. I mean, I know they fight a lot and just really don't get along, but they each have their own problems that contributed to the bigger problem, whatever it was." Harry sighed and looked down at his knuckles as he rubbed his hands together anxiously. "It all happened kind of suddenly, but not. They never really got along before, but things were never bad until they got really bad."

Louis leaned forward and crossed his legs on the couch. He wanted Harry to know that he was providing his undivided attention to Harry's story. Louis wanted Harry to know that he was there for him. He yearned for the information he needed in order to know how to make Harry feel better, how to help Harry if he needed it, how to understand him better.

"I heard my parents arguing through the walls one night and it was about me," Harry stated plainly. "They argued about me being the only reason that they were together. Apparently, I wasn't a planned pregnancy. My father said his New Year's wish should have been to freeze to death so he wouldn't have wasted so much of his life being stuck with her."

"Oh, I see..." Louis understood what Harry meant. His birthday being in the middle of June meant that his parents were married only six months before he was born. Louis hated what he was hearing. He wanted to understand what Harry was feeling, but his own parents separated so long ago he could not even remember if they had fought, much less anything like what Harry described so far in his story.

"Yeah." Harry sighed and rubbed one of his hands against his forehead. He had never really talked about the divorce with anyone before, but Louis seemed so genuine and sincere with his attempts to connect that explaining became much easier for Harry. "I didn't really know what to do at that point. I knew they didn't want to be with each other and it made a lot of weird stuff from the past make sense, like odd fights, things like that. It seemed like it was my fault that they were stuck with each other and they were unhappy. So, I ran away that night during the fight. I was fourteen. I packed my backpack full of clothes and snuck out the back door, right out the gate. I didn't make it very far. Zayn and Liam couldn't put me up for the night so I just wandered down the street. I walked and walked with no idea where I was going. It seemed like it wasn't that long I was gone. The police eventually picked me up and made me tell them where I lived, then when I got home I saw it was almost five in the morning. I'd been gone for almost seven hours and they didn't even notice."

Louis watched the younger boy lean his head into the armrest behind him and stare at the ceiling for a moment. He moved closer to Harry on the couch and gently placed his hand on top of the younger boy's. He drew circles with his thumb over the skin on the back of Harry's hand.

"Well, that's the point where things got really bad. After the police brought me back, they got into an enormous fight about whose fault it was that I ran away. They didn't notice I was gone and then when I got back it seemed like they barely cared why I had run away or anything. They were too busy fighting with each other to notice anything outside of their bubble of anger." His eyes became misty during his story. Harry rubbed his eyes with the back of his free hand.

Louis noticed, however. He closed the distance between the two on the couch and placed his hand delicately on Harry's cheek and wiped away a tear as it fled down the side of Harry's face. This gesture caused Harry's emotions to spill over even further and a few more tears chased the first one, but Louis gently swabbed them away with his thumb.

"Well, I didn't really know what I was supposed to do, Lou. I didn't want both of them to be miserable because of me, so I guess my fourteen year old logic was just to remove myself from the situation. I saw myself as the problem. Just like I was the problem with everything that happened at my birthday today." Harry groaned and ran his hand over his eyes again, this time out of frustration.

"Hazza…" Louis felt worse with each sentence that fell out of Harry's mouth. He felt pity for the boy whose parents seemed more preoccupied with fighting than taking care of him, but he also felt anger towards them. He struggled to understand how someone could ignore their child in that kind of situation, but struggled even more to understand how someone could ignore Harry. Harry, a genuinely good person who had simply been dealt a shitty hand in life.

"Back when they used to yell and scream at each other, sometimes it got so, so nasty that I just couldn't stand hearing it or being in the same place as them. That's how I used to escape, but not really by my own choice. I would kind of get overwhelmed and when that happens, if it's enough, I just sort of get lost in my own mind." Harry scratched his head and sighed. He had never really talked about his panic attacks before, so he tried to think about how to describe them to someone who had not experienced one before. "What happens -- it's like your body kind of goes into autopilot and it pushes you out. So, you just kind of feel lost inside your own mind for a while. It plants itself so deep inside your head that you can't really do anything except wait for it to pass."

"I didn't really know what I was supposed to do," Louis responded, "I just thought that I needed to get you out of there as quick as I could. I didn't really understand what was happening. I hope I handled that okay." 

"You really helped me," Harry said as he moved the hand Louis had covered with his own to lace his fingers in between the older boy's fingers. He truly appreciated how much Louis had helped him that day. He always imagined that if anyone else ever saw how chaotic his life could have been that they would get freaked out and abandon Harry.

One side of Louis' mouth perked up into a half smile. He felt relief about having evacuated the two of them from Harry's house. He laced his fingers in between Harry's in response to the younger boy's touch. He lifted their intwined hands up to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on the back of Harry's hand. He stood up from the couch palette, his fingers still laced with Harry's. He tilted his head to indicate he wanted Harry to follow him, so the younger boy stood and allowed Louis to lead him to the older boy's bedroom. 

Once they were in Louis' room, Louis sat Harry down on one side of his bed, then circled around to the other side, laid on top of the fluffy blue comforter, and propped himself up with one of his elbows. Harry sat there for a moment, unsure of what exactly was about to happen. Louis pulled the younger boy next to him, wrapped his arms around Harry, and rested his chin on Harry's shoulder. Harry stayed slightly tense for a moment, but quickly gave in to Louis' affection and turned to face the older boy. Harry wrapped his arms around Louis' back and held him. At first, Harry's grip was light, but it slowly intensified until Harry was clutching Louis' back with nearly all his force. He clung to Louis as his emotions boiled over again. In that moment, he had no fear, no anxiety.

"I always wanted to be one of those people who never let anything around them bother them," Harry said into the fabric of Louis' shirt, "but I just can't be. I'm not one of those people." 

Louis understood Harry's grip. He understood that was the grasp of someone who desperately needed to feel connected to another human being. He had seen how his mother behaved before a date: the conversation that she seemed to only pay half-attention to, the preoccupation with her personal appearance. He witnessed how his parents behaved during a domestic brawl. He also experienced first-hand how it affected Harry and he hated every moment of it. Everything about her strange over-protective-but-not behavior aligned itself after Harry explained the divorce situation. He felt himself slipping farther into whatever it was he had with Harry and he was content with that. He found himself wanting to be that thing that guided Harry out of the haze more and more with each moment he spent with the boy. A boy he had known for the summer was wheedling his way into Louis' heart further and further every time Louis saw him. 

"You don't have to be one of those people, Hazza. It's okay to feel things. Feeling things is what lets people be happy and excited about things, and yeah, it's what lets people feel sad about things, but when you do feel sad or anything, I'll be there for you." Louis pulled Harry away from him to look him in the eye. He placed his hand on Harry's cheek and ran his thumb across the younger boy's face and smiled at him.

Harry's eyes began to cloud over with tears again, but this time they were happy tears. He felt so comfortable in this moment and as he looked in Louis' eyes, he understood how genuine the older boy's affections were. He leaned forward and met Louis' lips with his own. He held this position for a moment. He held his breath as Louis wrapped his arms around the small of Harry's back and wrapped around the contour of his skin. When the kiss broke, Harry released the breath he held and rested his head on the pillow near where Louis' had fallen. He looked at the older boy, his crush from high school and asked: "Do you promise?"

Louis smiled, pulled the younger boy closer, and whispered, "I promise, Hazza."

"I told you not to call me that."


End file.
